Relates to the court approval process for the sale, mortgage and lease of real property of a religious corporation

• Republican2
• Democratic1

◆ The sponsor's argument

Why Michael Gianaris says this is needed

This bill seeks to expedite the process by which the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese obtains court approval for the disposition of its assets. Pursuant to section 12 of the Religious Corporations Law, religious corporations seeking to sell, mortgage or lease for a term exceeding five years any of their real property must obtain either court approval or Attorney General approval. Section 511(b) of Not-for-Profit Corpo- ration Law provides that when seeking court approval, the Attorney General must be given at least 15 days notice before a court hearing on the petition for approval. Unfortunately, the current process can add thousands of dollars in extra costs and delay the ability of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese to obtain court approval in an expeditious manner. Currently, section 2-b of the Religious Corporations Law exempts certain religious corporations from having to provide notice to the Attorney General when they petition for court approval. Churches currently exempted from this requirement include the Protestant Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Ruthenian Catholic Church, the Ruthenian Catholic Church, the African Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the United Methodist Church, and the Reformed Church of America. These churches were exempted because they are hierarchical. The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese is also a hierarchical church. Accordingly, this bill amends the list of exempted religious corporations to include the Greek Ortho- dox Archdiocese, and requires that the church first obtain approval from its archbishop prior to petitioning the court. This ensures the proper safeguards are in place without the need for notice to the Attorney General.

This is the sponsor's own case for the bill, quoted from their memorandum. It is not Agora's description of what the bill does.